Advance QLD Industry Research Fello
Overview
Dr Ummul Sultana is a Industry Research Fellow in the Hydrometallurgy Research Group within the School of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Queensland. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, followed by Master’s degree in Hydrometallurgy and PhD in Materials Engineering from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. After finishing her PhD, she started her research career as a Postdoctoral Researcher at UQ in the School of Chemical Engineering in 2019. She has gained experiences in the field of hydrogen energy, nanomaterials-based electrocatalysts development, thermodynamic phase equilibria & database development as well as advanced materials’ characterization techniques. She was invited to the Ohio State University in United States of America to participate in a short course on advanced materials’ characterization techniques. She has been largely contributing to the research area of treating industrial tailings & critical metal recovery techniques. She has also been engaged in teaching, staff & laboratory management as well as managing the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines in UQ laboratories. Due to her research excellence, she has received the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award for the class of 2019 and High Achiever Award in 2018 from QUT. She has several publications in well reputed journals and two of her journal articles have been featured in the front covers of “Advanced Functional Materials” (IF 20) and “ChemElectroCehm” (IF 5). In 2021, she was awarded the Research Fellowship Grant from the UQ Research and Innovation Centre. Ummul is currently focusing on Extracting Queensland’s Rare Earth Elements Sustainably project supported by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. She is also an Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), member of Royal Society of Chemistry and Engineers Australia professional societies.
Teaching and Learning:
- Metal Production and Recycling [METL2201]
- Hydrometallurgy and Electrometallurgy [METL6204]
- Pyrometallurgy [MINE3212]
Research Interests
- Hydrometallurgical extraction of rare earth elements and asses process sustainability
- Industrial and mine wastewater treatment
- E-waste and battery recycling
- Critical metal recovery from Queensland mine tailings
- Thermodynamic phase equilibria studies and process parameters optimization
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology
Publications
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Book Chapter: Hydrometallurgical processing of e-waste and metal recovery
Amilton Barbosa Botelho Junior, Ummul Khair Sultana and James Vaughan (2023). Hydrometallurgical processing of e-waste and metal recovery. Management of electronic waste: resource recovery, technology and regulation. (pp. 234-288) edited by Anshu Priya. Hoboken, NJ United States: Wiley.
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Journal Article: Nickel sulfate solution fluoride separation with hydrous zirconium oxide
Nigri, Elbert M., Sultana, Ummul K., Santos, André L. A., Vaughan, James W. and Rocha, Sônia D. F. (2023). Nickel sulfate solution fluoride separation with hydrous zirconium oxide. Tungsten. doi: 10.1007/s42864-023-00241-1
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Journal Article: Integrated experimental liquidus and modelling studies of the ternary AgO0.5-FeO1.5-SiO2 system in equilibrium with metallic Ag
Sultana, U.K., Shevchenko, M. and Jak, E. (2021). Integrated experimental liquidus and modelling studies of the ternary AgO0.5-FeO1.5-SiO2 system in equilibrium with metallic Ag. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 870 159333, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2021.159333
Grants
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Sodium sulfate solution purification
(2023–2024) V Resource Pty Ltd
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Vanadium Catalyst Recycling (RTCM Trailblazer project administered by Curtin University)
(2023–2024) Curtin University
Supervision
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Impurity control in Rare Earth Element Processing
Doctor Philosophy
Publications
Book Chapter
-
Hydrometallurgical processing of e-waste and metal recovery
Amilton Barbosa Botelho Junior, Ummul Khair Sultana and James Vaughan (2023). Hydrometallurgical processing of e-waste and metal recovery. Management of electronic waste: resource recovery, technology and regulation. (pp. 234-288) edited by Anshu Priya. Hoboken, NJ United States: Wiley.
Journal Article
-
Nickel sulfate solution fluoride separation with hydrous zirconium oxide
Nigri, Elbert M., Sultana, Ummul K., Santos, André L. A., Vaughan, James W. and Rocha, Sônia D. F. (2023). Nickel sulfate solution fluoride separation with hydrous zirconium oxide. Tungsten. doi: 10.1007/s42864-023-00241-1
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Sultana, U.K., Shevchenko, M. and Jak, E. (2021). Integrated experimental liquidus and modelling studies of the ternary AgO0.5-FeO1.5-SiO2 system in equilibrium with metallic Ag. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 870 159333, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2021.159333
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Shishin, Denis, Hidayat, Taufiq, Sultana, Ummul Khair, Shevchenko, Maksym and Jak, Evgueni (2020). Experimental measurement and thermodynamic model predictions of the distributions of Cu, As, Sb and Sn between liquid lead and PbO–FeO–Fe2O3–SiO2 slag. International Journal of Materials Research, 111 (9) 146.111942, 733-743. doi: 10.3139/146.111942
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Sultana, Ummul K., Fernand, Joseph F.S. and O'Mullane, Anthony P. (2020). Transformation of stainless steel 316 into a bifunctional water splitting electrocatalyst tolerant to polarity switching. Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 25 e00177, e00177. doi: 10.1016/j.susmat.2020.e00177
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Wahab, Md.A., Joseph, Jickson, Atanda, Luqman, Sultana, Ummul K., Beltramini, Jorge N., Ostrikov, Kostya, Will, Geoffrey, O'Mullane, Anthony P. and Abdala, Ahmed (2020). Nanoconfined synthesis of nitrogen-rich metal-free mesoporous carbon nitride electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction. ACS Applied Energy Materials, 3 (2), 1439-1447. doi: 10.1021/acsaem.9b01876
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Shishin, Denis, Hidayat, Taufiq, Sultana, Ummul, Shevchenko, Maksym and Jak, Evgueni (2019). Experimental Study and Thermodynamic Calculations of the Distribution of Ag, Au, Bi, and Zn Between Pb Metal and Pb–Fe–O–Si slag. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy, 6 (1), 68-77. doi: 10.1007/s40831-019-00257-3
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Sultana, Ummul K. and O'Mullane, Anthony P. (2019). Electrochemically fabricated Ni−P, Ni−S and Ni−Se materials for overall water splitting: investigating the concept of bifunctional electrocatalysis. ChemElectroChem, 6 (10), 2630-2637. doi: 10.1002/celc.201801731
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Sultana, Ummul K., Riches, James D. and O'Mullane, Anthony P. (2018). Gold doping in a layered Co-Ni hydroxide system via galvanic replacement for overall electrochemical water splitting. Advanced Functional Materials, 28 (43) 1804361, 1804361. doi: 10.1002/adfm.201804361
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Sultana, Ummul K. and O'Mullane, Anthony P. (2018). Electrochemical formation of Amorphous molybdenum phosphosulfide for enabling the hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline and acidic media. ACS Applied Energy Materials, 1 (6), 2849-2858. doi: 10.1021/acsaem.8b00489
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Sultana, Ummul K., He, Tianwei, Du, Aijun and O'Mullane, Anthony P. (2017). An amorphous dual action electrocatalyst based on oxygen doped cobalt sulfide for the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. RSC Advances, 7 (87), 54995-55004. doi: 10.1039/c7ra10394h
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Kinetics of leaching of iron oxide in clay in oxalic acid and in hydrochloric acid solutions
Sultana, U.K. (2014). Kinetics of leaching of iron oxide in clay in oxalic acid and in hydrochloric acid solutions. Materials Science and Metallurgy Engineering, 2 (1) DOI:10.12691/msme-2-1-2, 5-10. doi: 10.12691/msme-2-1-2
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Kinetics of recovery of alumina from aluminium casting waste through fusion with sodium hydroxide
Sultana, U.K. (2013). Kinetics of recovery of alumina from aluminium casting waste through fusion with sodium hydroxide. American Journal of Materials Engineering and Technology, 1 (3), 30-34. doi: 10.12691/materials-1-3-1
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Dissolution kinetics of iron oxides in clay in oxalic acid solutions
Sultana, U. K. and Kurny, A. S. W. (2012). Dissolution kinetics of iron oxides in clay in oxalic acid solutions. International Journal of Minerals Metallurgy and Materials, 19 (12), 1083-1087. doi: 10.1007/s12613-012-0674-3
Grants (Administered at UQ)
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Sodium sulfate solution purification
(2023–2024) V Resource Pty Ltd
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Vanadium Catalyst Recycling (RTCM Trailblazer project administered by Curtin University)
(2023–2024) Curtin University
PhD and MPhil Supervision
Current Supervision
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Impurity control in Rare Earth Element Processing
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
